Go Shopping with Your Mobile Phone!

Apparently, in a couple of years, we won't need cash or credit cards anymore when we go shopping, as mobile payment (meaning paying with the help of your mobile phone) will become a popular payment method, says Juniper Research. The UK-based telecoms analyst company published a forecast according to which, by 2011, about 52 million consumers will pay for everyday goods and services with their mobile phones, adopting new technologies like Near Field Communication (NFC) and other physical mobile payment procedures. The high number of mobile payment users will enable the physical mobile payments market to reach, by the same year, more than 11 billion dollars.

Near Field Communication and other similar payment methods will offer a feasible alternative to cash as well as to credit and debit cards, boosting the already increasing mobile lifestyle that more and more consumers have. The recent Juniper Research study reveals that about 12% of the total mobile phones in use in 2011 will offer support for contactless payment methods like NFC. This 12% represents approximately 470 million mobile phones that will be NFC-enabled, providing an important marketplace through which retailers can offer products and services via mPayment.

Juniper Research's study also shows that mobile payment services and applications are already available around the world in different formats, as trial or commercial modes, and they receive positive feedback from users. The US and the Far East markets are the most receptive when it comes to using NFC or RFID (Radio-frequency identification) to simplify mobile payments for physical goods or services. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the fact that a mutually satisfying and healthy business model must be developed by members of the mobile payments value chain in order to guarantee income to all parties.

The mobile payments market status was evaluated by Juniper Research based on analysis, case studies and interviews from representatives of leading organizations in the mobile payments industry.